Hello, Grisham -- So Long, Hemingway?

The Washington Times ^ | January 02, 2007 | Lisa Rein

[Red Badger]

It was a dark and stormy night. The kinda night that froze your soul like some kid's tongue to a steel pole at Christmas time........

[Borges]

Some books on the chopping block:

The Works of Aristotle Aristotle (Centreville)
The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner (George Mason Regional)
The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy (George Mason Regional)
For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway (George Mason Regional)
Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac (George Mason Regional)
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak (George Mason Regional)
Remembrance of Things Past Marcel Proust (George Mason Regional)
Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well Maya Angelou (Chantilly Regional)
The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams (Chantilly Regional)
Writings Gertrude Stein (Chantilly Regional)
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte (Chantilly Regional)
Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe (Chantilly Regional)
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein (Chantilly Regional)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Pohick Regional)
Babylon Revisited: And other stories F. Scott Fitzgerald (Reston Regional)
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee (Reston Regional)
The Aeneid Virgil (Sherwood Regional)
The Mill on the Floss George Eliot (Fairfax City Regional)

[Red Badger]

No Catcher in the Rye?

[Wormwood]

The following books have been weeded from the shelves of various branches of the Fairfax County Public Library system or haven't been checked out in 24 months and could be discarded. In parentheses are the branches where the books are endangered. The same title might be available at another branch.

The Works of Aristotle Aristotle (Centreville)

Sexual Politics Kate Millett (Centreville)

The Great Philosophers Karl Jaspers (Centreville)

Carry Me Home Diane McWhorter (Centreville)

The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner (George Mason Regional)

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy (George Mason Regional)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway (George Mason Regional)

Desolation Angels

Jack Kerouac (George Mason Regional)

Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak (George Mason Regional)

Remembrance of Things Past

Marcel Proust (George Mason Regional)

Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well

Maya Angelou (Chantilly Regional)

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams (Chantilly Regional)

Writings Gertrude Stein (Chantilly Regional)

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte (Chantilly Regional)

Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe (Chantilly Regional)

Great Issues in American History

Richard Hofstadter (Chantilly Regional)

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

Gertrude Stein (Chantilly Regional)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Pohick Regional)

Babylon Revisited: And other stories

F. Scott Fitzgerald (Reston Regional)

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee (Reston Regional)

The Aeneid Virgil (Sherwood Regional)

The Mill on the Floss

George Eliot (Fairfax City Regional)

---

I think I'm going to be sick. I counted ten books on that list that should be *required* reading (and hopefully they still are in whatever schools still give a damn about teaching).

I thought libraries were supposed to be repositories of literature, not pop culture.

ps. It's the Washington Post, not Washington Times.

[Spok]

We live in a culture on the brink of re-inventing itself. Unfortunately, it's starting from scratch, without traditions, religion, philosophy or a history.

[Wormwood]

I spent too much time typing up my self-righteous indignation that you beat me to it!

Scoundrel! ;-)

[dmz]

I was OK with this, until I saw that Faulkner's Sound and the Fury was on the list.

In all seriousness, though, the head guy quoted in the story has a point ... why stock was doesn't get used? It's sad that folks are not reading some of this stuff, but Thomas Hardy is gonna have a tough time competing with season 3 of Laguna Beach. Surprisingly, more melodrama in Laguna Beach (and it's tough to out melodrama Hardy).

[Congressman Billybob]

What a stupid policy by the local libraries. I grew up with the phenomenal resources of the Enoch Pratt Free Library at by beck and call.

Once in high school I got interested in the strange career of Aaron Burr. I went into the Pratt Central Library and searched the card catalog for "Aaron Burr" entries. Ultimately, I checked out a book that had last been checked out a CENTURY ago. It was the transcript of Burr's trial for treason, before Chief Justice John Marshall. (Burr was acquitted on sound legal grounds.)

I remembered what I'd read. And that memory made me a source for Matt Drudge years ago, when the subject was a subpoena to Clinton, like the one that CJ Marshall issued to President Jefferson in the Burr trial. But I'd have missed that whole opportunity if the Pratt Board had been as short-sighted as the library boards reported here.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article: "The Are-You-Kidding Award for Cong. Conyers"

[fish hawk]

Slowly, with an elfish grin on her face, she undid the top button of her blouse.

[Obi-Wandreas]

D'oh!

[Borges]

It doesn't say how small these libraries actually are. Some of these small town libraries are literally a couple of rooms.

[Red Badger]

It was all over in an instant. Her, me and the dwarf were all totally exhausted..........

[Jacquerie]

It would appear that local English teachers and professors no long assign the classics. Okay, so what do the young literature scholars read instead?

[Publius Valerius]

Interesting.

So are they just going to throw these books in the trash? If so, they can send them to my house instead. I'd happily give them a good home.

[fish hawk]

There were feathers all over the living room rug. From beneath the couch, like embers from a fire, glowed two yellow eyes.

This reminds me of one of my favorites, James Thurber.

[StAnDeliver]

Welcome to the new doublegood Fairfax County!

[eyespysomething]

Well, that's just a shame.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

So the ACLU can stop an elementary school library from removing a book about Cuba (see Judge Says Book on Cuba Must Stay), but the public library system gets a pass and removes hundreds of books per month? Where's the ACLU when you need them? Shouldn't they be jumping in to prevent the removal of these books?

Whoops - slap upside the head! The ACLU would support the removal of the collected writings of Abraham Lincoln. But imagine the howls of protest if the library dared remove the collected writings of Karl Marx?

[eyespysomething]

Okay, so what do the young literature scholars read instead?

Books at home?